Great. Busy. Great. Great. Great.
Tonight ends one of the best and most consistent shows ever to grace the small screen and I’m reminded every day about just how few people I come into contact with have given it a fair shake despite the longevity and critical success it has achieved. When talking about great crime shows, The Shield is worthy of inclusion with the best of the best. Names like Homicide: Life on the Streets, The Sopranos, The Wire, Hill Street Blues, The Rockford Files, and Law& Order. If I want to be a little nerdy I’ll add American Gothic and The Job to the list.
Typically I get this: “That’s the show with the guy from The Commish.” Or, what is it, Training Day but over and over again?
Actually, those questions both have accuracy but it’s way too easy to dismiss The Shield as a simple cops and crooks show or ever a corrupt cops show. After coming out of the gate swinging with that unforgettable pilot episode the show has managed to build a terrific ensemble and survive a series of different seasonal “guest stars” like Glenn Close, Forrest Whitaker, and Anthony Anderson without skipping a beat. It’s managed to maintain our love for characters who live on the wrong side of vile, slipping past snares in every direction to emerge free men, albeit men with heavy weights on their conscience.
The best shows allow us to change favorite characters over the course of seasons, usually to give us an emotional shiv as the mythology evolves. Surprisingly, Michael Chiklis has gotten most of the attention while his supporting cast totally wins me over. First it was Walton Goggins [who still is absolutely perfect as Shane Vendrell, the most memorable character in the series], then it was Kenny Johnson’s Curtis Lemansky before switching to Jay Karnes’ annoying but memnorable Dutch Wagonbach before settling on the dude who has been the quiet glue for the past two seasons, David Rees Snell as the only level-headed guy on the Strike Team, Ronnie Gardocki.
It also shares with the best crime stories [Heat and Casino come to mind offhand] the way in which our protagonists’ plans are foiled by the weakness of family or loved ones. If they’d have just stuck with the program things would have worked out. It’s excruciating to see the way Vic Mackey and Shane Vendrell’s families have made them into what they are in this final season. Feral, rabid animals with their backs to the wall. Then again, I tend to root for the bad guys so there is that.
The bottom line is that while I have no problems with the CSI shows and the Law & Order shows and their clones… The Shield trumps them on every level that matters creatively. And it’s still horribly underseen.
Don’t watch tonight’s episode if you’re a newbie, and don’t read spoilers about it. Go to the beginning and work through an absolutely sensational and brutal slice of American drama. It’s worth it. My secret: Have an IPOD dock at your nightstand and watch a few in bed every night. It’s amazing how it passes the time and fills your brain with the most vividly exposive criminal dreams. .
Do me a favor, either start blind buying the DVD’s from our Amazon link, download the first few episodes of at least Season One (though it gets better and more screwy with each year).
But if you’re a fan and plan on watching it at 10PM Eastern… post either here in this talkback, HERE in our Final Season Thread, or chat about it live HERE in our chat room.
A great show is ending. The great thing in this era of digital options, you have no fucking reason to be ignorant of this show any more.
25 comments
I tried watching this when I was going through withdrawal pains from finishing The Wire. I got about six episodes in and gave up on it, wondering how HBO achieves such inimitable quality.
Amen.
The few times I attempted to watch The Shield, I saw Michael Chiklis (that pampered Hollywood pussy) trying his damndest to act like a tough guy. I laughed, then quickly changed the channel. THE WIRE IS STILL KING.
I've gone back and forth with The Shield over the years. The pilot turned me off because it seemed to want titillate the viewer with its language, nudity and violence for its own sake. But I've gone back over the years, and it is indeed a very solid show. I lost track of it a few seasons ago, and I admit I have trouble telling one year from the other. But I will be watching tonight, and maybe even backtracking the shows I've missed. Problem with The Wire is that it tends to make every other show feel like a circus clown employing cheap tactics to get your attention. But The Shield works. It's a solid show. Much better than most cop shows.
My camera is shaky. I am a good show. Hyperbole picture. Fuck this face.
Best show ever. It's the most consistently well-acted and well-written television show I've ever seen, and I've seen all five seasons of The Wire and every episode of The Sopranos. The Shield really is a masterpiece and I know a lot of you will ignore it (I did for several years) but I hope one day you pick up a DVD set and start watching. You're going to discover a real gem.
Yeah see, Like most of the people above, once you've watched The wire, most cops and robbers tv show's seem like Sesame St. reruns. This isn't a knock at the shield, it probably is a really good show for mainstream tv, and if the wire didn't exist, would probably be the best show of its kind. But the wire does exist and simply blows the shield out of the water.
Well played, Nick. The Shield is hands down my favorite show ever, in fact I'm gettin' a Shield Tattoo tomorrow. Thanks for showing some praise to this phenominal show!
"Oh my god the wire is sooooo good. why watch the shield!?"
Jesus, I pray no other good show featuring criminals, cops or drama ever comes out, cause heaven forbid, they won't be The Wire.
(and I think The Wire is damn good).
The Shield, fantastic show. You'll be missed, but way to go out perfectly.
Meh… The Shield was ok. But it's no "Two Guys, A Girl, And A Pizza Place"!
THE WIRE!@$!@#%436t best showz everz!!!! no other show shld evers be made!$!@ Why is it that people always bring up the Wire whenever the Shield is mentioned. Yes they're both the same genre of show but go about it differently, and both are really good. The only reason I can think of is that the ultra fans of the wire are still better that no one watched it. Don't worry guys not many people watched the Shield either. Well it's either that or they're pissed because they know that Vic could beat the shit out of McNulty, Bunk and Kima at the same time.
"they're pissed because they know that Vic could beat the shit out of McNulty, Bunk and Kima at the same time" — and that is why The Wire is better than The Shield, no one who watched, understood, and appreciated The Wire would ever make a statement like that. Why don't you go back to arguing that Superman could beat the Flash in a foot race? The Wire is a piece of art, The Shild is a piece of trash.
Hey wow Nick actually wrote an article! See you in 2 years for the next one!
"The Wire is a piece of art, The Shild is a piece of trash.' …And if you actually watched The Shield and made it through all 7 masterful seasons you wouldn't be saying a statement like THAT. I have nothing against The Wire, it's awesome too, but I can guarantee you that not one person that has watched The Shield to the mindblowingly epic last few seasons would call it a "piece of trash". Ignorance at its finest.
I watched the first episode and it was terrible so I never watched more. Cheese-meter off the charts.
Just watched the first two episodes of The Shield, thanks to Nick's recommendation. Great so far. Thanks, Nick.
Great show, even better series finale. I will be haunted by parts of last night's episode for quite some time.
p.s. "The Wire" can bite mine!
The Shield is one of the only shows that I've followed from start to finish. I don't think I've ever missed a single episode when it originally aired. It was just dumb luck that I stumbled onto it, actually.
I think that most people who have watched both the Shield and the Wire will say that both shows are great but in very different ways. I don't understand why people have to be fanboys of one of these two great shows and attack the other one. It is possible to really like both of them. And it's perfectly fine to not like either one too.
I really got into this show and I am glad a stuck with it! It wasn't a perfect show, but damn at times it rocked! Great haunting end to it all with scenes that still stick with me hours later. I can't believe some are comparing it to THE SOPRANOS end though, as it felt totally different to me. The images of the tragic end of Shane's family, Ronnie being taken away and Vic in the "suit", his prison uniform led around by an HR person being read the "rules". A bad ass addicted to the street/freedom now locked in his cubicle cell block. 😉 Karma is a bitch. I salute them for doing many of these scenes without dialogue. Adios SHIELD it was a fun ride!
I would have to say that this last season rivals the third as the best of the lot it's not hard to make a killer final episode (Six Feet Under, I mean you) but to create a killer final season in which every episode feels like final ep (Six Feet Under, didn't manage that) is a rare beast indeed…here's hoping they don't sully the legacy of the show with a cash-in film.
P.S My two-cents Vic is going to 'deal' with Corinne' in the last scene.
I am now going to try both the Wire and the Shield. Speaking of HBO, boy are they slipping lately.
How can anyone not like this show? It's so addicting and interesting, and the acting is top notch. You can like both the Shield and the Wire, you know. I don't get this sudden attitude of "I hate the Shield because I like the Wire!" You can like both!
Yep, I ignored it and I'll keep ignoring it.
The Wire is a great show, BUT THE SHIELD caps it in SPADES. Yeah, SEE?
I try telling people how great this show is but everyone I know does not want to give it a shot. It's their loss.
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